There can be no starker demonstration of Wikileaks' profound irresponsibility than its publication of the leaked cable we report this week. Rabbi Herschel Gluck's back-channel negotiations with the Iranians over the release of Israeli soldiers has been entirely humanitarian in purpose and has only been possible because it has been secret.

That secrecy has now been destroyed, for no reason other than the self-aggrandisement of Wikileaks and its founder, Julian Assange. Newspapers have an obvious interest in the dissemination of information, especially secret information. But there is also a wider public interest against which this must be balanced, and the leak of these details while the soldiers remain in captivity is simply wrong.

As Rabbi Gluck puts it: "When people's lives are at stake, that is a totally different ballgame." That is why, although we have seen the unredacted cable, the JC is not publishing the full details. As for Mr Assange: we have already had cause to question his modus operandi, such as his links with the infamous antisemite Israel Shamir. This latest example of Wikileaks' recklessness with human life is even more shaming.